I'm not a big user of Spotify, but it has one great element of social utility that really works for me: I can play my friends' Spotify playlists when they come around to visit. It's like a new kind of courtesy.
It wouldn't work, would seem awkward, to invite a friend to physically disconnect my phone or 'pod and replace it with theirs. But (assuming AirPlay has decided to make itself available), we can sit out on the deck with a beer and choose to listen to that little part of the Cloud called "andy's faves".
It helps, of course, that Andy has (mostly) great taste. If your friends do not, I can't really help you, but Andy has a knack for classic pop. Hence, we get the Beach Boys' 'That's Why God Made the Radio', the Hollies 'The Air That I Breathe' and relative obscurities such as The Exponents' 'Like She Said', a cracking bit of power-pop from their Grassy Knoll album. Inevitably, the playlist also includes the odd shitter, allowing me to tease Andy, the way he mocks me for my Adele remixes.
I'm thinking that assembling such a Spotify playlist of my own should be a summer project. I've called it Jukebox. But what to put on it? 'Gary Gilmore's Eyes' by The Adverts, 'You Say You Don't Love Me' by the Buzzcocks, 'Virginia Plain' by Roxy Music, the Three Johns' 'World By Storm'. And because I'm always about some reggae and soul too, Joe Gibbs and the Professionals' 'Money in My Pocket' and Aretha's 'Chain of Fools' . And for some pure, I-might-regret-this cheese, Nick Gilder's 'Hot Child in the City'.
I've made this a Collaborative Playlist. I don't rightly understand this fancy Spotify stuff, but I presume that means that you can click through to go to it and chuck in one or two jukebox hits of you own -- but you'll need to subscribe to it first. Or failing that, just suggest some in comments. No one's going to laugh. honest.
---
Meanwhile, back with my more usual stock-in-trade of smartarse Soundcloud reversionings, I've been playing this all week:
There's a download here.
This week's Bobby Busnach:
---
Meanwhile, along with every arty, impecunious kid in Grey Lynn, Jackson and I got along last night to the launch for Watercolours' new single/video, 'Pazzida'. Chelsea finished her short, sweet set with 'Under', which has started to sound really strong live.
Jackson observed, and I thoroughly agree, that it's a sitter for a big, expansive remix. Perhaps, I'm thinking, in the smooshy dubstep style of Love Thy Brother:
---
This week's picks from TheAudience: 'New York and the Dead' by Little Bark is quite dramatic:
Some scalliwag called the Dastardly Bounder:
Some electro-grandeur from Wellington's D:UNK:
And on a completely different tip, some Auckland Americana from Great North. This is some seriously sweet sorrow:
All but the D:UNK track are available as downloads if you click through. Nice.
The Hard News Music Post is sponsored by:
